1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to instruments for suturing puncture wounds and more particularly to instruments for closing trocar puncture wounds formed during endoscopic surgical procedures.
2. Description of the Related Art
With laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery, a small incision or puncture is made in the patient's body to provide access for a tube or a cannula device. Once extended into the patient's body, the cannula allows for insertion of various surgical instruments such as scissors, dissectors, retractors, or biopsy instruments to perform diagnostics and/or surgery. Upon completion of the surgical procedure, the remaining trocar wound may require some attention, e.g., in the form of placing sutures to close the wound. In certain cases it may be desirable to close the wound from within.
A device which forms sutures from within the urethra is shown in Soviet Patent SU 1093329. The device is inserted into the urethra and pivotally deploys needles from which sutures are subsequently Pulled through the side walls of the urethra.
Other devices have been developed which are used to place sutures from within a wound. For example, commonly assigned applications Ser. No. 07/950,073 filed Sep. 23, 1992, now abandoned and Ser. No. 08/013,244 filed Feb. 23, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,328 as well as application Ser. No. 07/876,511, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,601 relate to different surgical instruments for placing sutures from within a trocar wound. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/091,793, filed Jul. 14, 1993 also discloses a surgical instrument for placing suture, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Also, a device has been developed for placing sutures from within a trocar wound which includes a needle clamping device for capturing the needles upon deployment thereof. Such a device is shown in a product brochure of REMA-Medizintechnik GmbH of Germany.
Accordingly, a need exists, for an improved instrument which provides better deployment and capturing or shielding of the needles.